I was actually taught to tune left-handed, for both uprights and grands. Later, with some kind encouragement from a local tuner, I attempted right-handed tuning. The comment that got me thinking; "you seem to be working kind of hard for what you're getting!" (all the insentive I needed!) Tuning uprights right-handed felt really wierd and I never did stick with it. Tuning grands (right-handed) however was "the keeper!" I must've made that switch about 15 years ago, and never looked back. As for tuning the high-treble, I switch to left hand without difficulty. So I'm coming at this from a slightly different angle Michelle, but agree with Ed, you should give the L.H. approach a try. With regard to U-1's, I will risk controversy and say I am inclined to look at the grey-markets (wet pianos!?). They are easily better than the "Hamiltons" we're infested with, and can often be purchased for similar to what we can liquidate a nice "living room brown" Hamilton for. U-3's, even moreso! I've always been the amazed at the improvement on any Yamaha from just replacing the bass-strings. Replacing the original mallets with a set of well-needled Abels or Renners are the "icing on the cake!" Until budget becomes such a non-issue that we can afford to replace all our verticals with new, I can find no better value than a pre-enjoyed U-1 or U-3 refurbished, as above. New Dampp-Chasers with back-covers have taken care of our climate concerns, even through our balmy Canadian winters! :>) BTW, welcome back everyone, it's good to see the list busy again. Mark Cramer, Brandon University
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